Casket and method of making same



Jan. 25, 1944. A v M. sKoLNlK I 2,340,208

GASKET AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Nov. 6, `1941 wr-m1276197 INVENTR MaX .Skolnik ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 25, 1944 2,340,208 A cAsxEr AND mamon oF MAKmG SAME Mass'koimk, chicago, m. Application November c, 1941, serial No. 418,035 aoiaima 01; 27-3i This invention relates to burial caskets and to a' method of making the'same. It also relates to a plastic, fibrous reinforced ply material which may be shaped and allowed to harden to produce articles having high strength and relatively low density. y

`.Heretofore, burial caskets' ha\ve been made of st'eel and of wood; both wood and steel are objectionable because they are not permanent, steel at the present time also being objectionable for the reason that it is difiicult to obtain.

It is an object of the present invention to pro-v vide a light weight, relatively inexpensive casket which is strong and substantially water-resist-` ant, even for long periods of time, and which has a pleasing appearance. l

It isk another object of the present invention to provide a casket which may be readily assembled as a single unit from readily obtainable plastic material, which is relatively light in weight, strong, and which does not need to contain any appreciable amounts of metal.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide ply material which may be readily formed to any desired shape and whichmay be used in the form of superimposed layers t produce a. unified structure of high strength.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the inventionas .illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which: o

Figure 1 is a perspective view, with portions broken away, of a casket embodying the present invention; l v

Fig, 2 is a sectional view through the casket taken on the line 2-2 of Fig, l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through a rounded corner taken on-the line H of Fig. 1:`

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the lower righthand corner as shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through a portion of a suitable metal mold, showing an arrangement of the layers of plastic material in forming portions of the casket;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view through a portion of a modified mold which may be used if itis desired to separately form the outer layers of the end panels and side panels of the casket; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view through a corner portion of the casket wherein the outer layers of the end and side panels are first separately formed in accordance. with one method of the present invention.

stantially entirely of magnesium oxychloride cee ment layers reinforced with fibrous reinforcing material, such as woven fabrics and especially loosely wovenl fabrics of the burlap type. Lhave discovered that when burlap or other iibrous reinforcingy sheet material, which is preferably in loosely woven form. is suitably coated with-magnesium oxychloride cement paste, it may be molded into various shapes toform layers orv panels having very substantial strength per of weight. When a .relatively small number layers are suitably superimposed or plied up to form a unified body, articles, and particularly burial caskets, having very high strength together with relatively low weight may be produced.

In order vfor the hardened ply material to have greatest strngth, I have found it'tobe essential Gaskets prepared in accordance with the present invention are constructed essentially or subto -first immerse the substantially dry fibrous reinforcing material in a solution of magnesium chloride,` which may or may not contain a relatively small' amount of magnesium oxide. The

fibrous material wetted with the magnesium chloride is then coated with a magnesium oxychloride I cement paste, which may be of any desired thickness, such as one -sixteenth of an inch 'or so.

y The magnesium chloride solution in which the fibrous reinforcingmaterial is immersed should preferably have a 'density' of about 25 B., a1-

though useful results may be obtained when the fibrous material is immersed in magnesium chloride solutions of about 15 to 35 B. When the lower density is used, the amount of magnesium chloride in the magnesium oxychloride cement should be greater than when higher density magnesium chloride is used.

When the fibrous reinforcing material is simply wetted with water, or when the wet or dry material is simply immersed in a magnesium cement paste which does not contain a large excess of magnesium chloride, I have found that the bond between the nbrous reinforcing material and the magnesium cement is faulty and usually of insuillcient strength. This is believed'to be for the reason that unless the fabric is previously wetted with magnesium chloride solution, pene.

a substantially boxlike botsuitable coacting cover porcomprise essentially ply maply material is-reduced considaccordance with the-present I ride and which contains outer present invention,

'the ply material pressed in a complete unitary structure is formed .mold,'a1l of the plies of ply material amay be terial, such as that lof layers ai. az, as, etc.. in the drawing. Each of the layers consists of a fibrous reinforcing sheet, such as burlap I2, which has been soaked in a solution of magnesium chloadherent coatings I3 of magnesium oxychloride cement applied to the fibrous material as above set forth.

The boxlike bottom portion may have suitable side portions 3 and end portions `l, and a bottom 5 integrally united to form a one-piece stmo- 1 a thin paste of Acontaining a large excess of magnesium chloride,

ture. The boxlike bottom -portion preferably contains suitable spaced fastening and reinforcing elements, such as wooden strifpsj and 1, which 'may be enclosed between the layers of the above describedply material or adhered to the cement. The strips 8 and 'I are disposed around the periphery of the upper edge of the box and around the periphery of the bottom portion Il, respectively. The peripheral strips 6 are desirable to serve as a base for hinges (not shown) between the cover and the bottom portion and also as a base to which any desirable lining may be tacked or otherwise fastened.. Handle fastening means, such as Wooden reinforcing strips 8, are also preferably inserted in the vicinity of the handles 9 to strengthen the walls of the casket at the points where the handles are attached.

The cover 2 also consists essentially of a plurality of layers of magnesium oxychloride cement reinforced with fibrous sheet material and contains suitably spaced, tack-receiving fastening vand reinforcing elements, such as the wood "audace above described. are preferably inserted before the inner layer as of ply material a is applied so that they are invisible. However, it has been found that wood reinforcing strips maybe solidly fastened to the inner surface of the casket by first coating the wood with a solution of magnesium chloride, or with magnesium oxychloride cement strips i, 1, 8, I0 and II,

placing the wood thus coated in contact with the magnesium oxychloride cement paste I3, and a1- lowing the paste toharden.

Caskets produced in accordance with the Ipresent invention are relatively lghtjin weight and are exceedingly strong and weather-resistant. Since the caskets are formed of a plastic ply material, the outer surface may have any desirable contour and' it may have a decorative coating 22 to simulate metal or other desired material.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous modifications of the construction shown may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of my inven tion as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A burial casket having @boxlike bottom portion consisting essentially of a plurality of en strips III and I I for the lining, not shown. The

peripheral fastening strips I0 of the cover are preferably disposed between the layers of the piy material and may also serve as hinge supporting elements for the cover.

In forming a casket in accordancewlth the the outer plies of the casket may be shaped in a relatively inexpensive sheet metal mold, such as that illustrated in Fig. 5. The'mold comprises sheet metal members, such as side members I5 and I6 fastened together with suitable bolts I1, which may be removed so that the mold may be disassembled and the casket re-l moved. If it is desired to produce caskets/having rounded corners, corner used in the forming mold.

The mold may conform figuration, and in the preparation of caskets itis first coated with a suitable grease, or other adhesion-preventing material. The ply material, a, consisting of the fabric layer |21 and coatings I3 of magnesium oxychloride paste of the desired thickness may be simply pressed or rubbed by hand into complete conformity with the mold contour. If only a panel mold, such as that illustrated in Fig. 6, is used one or more layers of conformity with the mold 20 may be allowed to harden to produce thin outer plies a1 in the form of panels 2lhaving'substantial strength. The outer plies thus produced are then assembled to their position in the desired'casket, as shown in Fig. '7, and additional plies or layers of plastic ply material are then pressed against the assembled panels `.2l with the' ends of the additional layers overlapping to form a composite structure. The additional plies are allowed to harden the endsof the outer panels 2 I. When is lillustrated in Fig. 5 in a single superimposed to\ form a composite structure before any of the `plies harden.

to any desired conblocks I8 maybe superimposed plies of fibrous sheet material having in intimate association with the separate fibers thereof a. coatingiof magnesium oxychloride cement composition, the fibrous material of successive plies being separated by magnesium oxychloride cement and being united together therethrough to form a unitary structure.

2. A burial casket having-a boxlike bottom portion consisting essentially of a plurality of superimposed plies of woven fibrous sheet material, each having in intimate association with the separate fibers thereof a coating of magnesium oxychloride cementcomposition which unites the separate plies in a -unitary structure, and spaced wood reinforcing and fastening elements between plies and adherent thereto, the magnesium cement penetrating the spaces of said fibrous sheet material.

3. A process of making burial caskets which comprises preparing a plastic, hardenable ply material by wetting afloosely woven fibrous sheet material with a thin solution of magnesium chloride and then applying a coating of magnesium oxychloride cement paste to said wetted fibrous material; shaping at least. one layer of the ply material against panel molds having the contour desired in the outer surface. portion of the casket, allowing the shaped ply material to set in the molds to form panels, assembling suitable panels Iinto the relationship to be maintained in the finished casket; applying additional layers of said plastic ply material against said assembled panels, said additional layers overlapping the assembled panels; applying reinforcing ano fastening elements in spaced relation against plastic cement of at least one of said layers and allowing the cement of said layers to harden, whereby a relatively light weight, unitary, weather-resistant casket is obtained.

4. A process of making burial caskets which comprises preparing a plastic hardenable ply material by wettingburlap sheet with a thin solution of magnesium chloride of 15 to 35 Baume and then applying a coating of magnesium oxychloride cement paste tosaid wetted fibrous ma'- terial; shaping at least one layer of the ply mainto the relationship to be maintained in the fin- 'lshed casket; applying additional layers of said plastic ply material against said assembled 'panels, said additional layers overlapping the assembled panels; applying relnforcingand fastening elements in spaced`relation against plastic cement of atleast one of said layers andailowing the cement of said layers to harden, whereby a A relatively light weight, unitary. weather-resistant casket is obtained.

5. A process of making burialcaskets which' comprises preparing a plastic, hardenable ply g material by wetting a loosely woven fibrous sheet material with a thin solution of magnesium chloride and then applying a coating 0f magnesium oxychloride cement paste to said wetted fibrous of magnesium oxychloride cement between each' ride cement paste 4having` suitable thickness.. I

shaping a layen of plastic ply material to the contour of a suitable forming mold, allowingthe layer to harden against said forming mold, and superimposing additional layers of said plastic ply material over the layer, substantially in conmaterial; shaping an outer` layer of said plastic ply material against a lubricated forming mold,

having substantially the internal contour of anportion formed essentially of a plurality. of superimposed' layers of pliable fabric reinforcing material adhered together with an adherent Vcoating the'bers thereof. v

tact with said forming mold, the ends of said su,-l perimposed layers overlapping the ends of the layerfirst applied.

9. A burial casket having a boxlike bottom portion consisting essentially of a plurality of super. imposed plies of burlan, each layer having in in` timate associationy with the separate fibers thereof a coating of magnesium oxychloride cement composition which unites the separate plies in a unitary structure, and' spaced wood reinforcing and fastening elements betweenv plies and adherent thereto, the magnesium cement penetrat-v ing the open spaces of the burlap and contacting 'Maxam 

